Todd Bretl specializes in underwater photography, and is able to capture striking photos of aquatic life big and small. His photos of sharks are particularly striking; though he rarely faces hostility from the animals, he tries not to spend too much time looking through his viewfinder and many shots are framed by educated guesses and impeccable timing. What follows are photographs taken over the past several years on trips to the Bahamas and Isla Guadalupe, an island off the coast of the Baja California peninsula in Mexico. (Photo by Todd Bretl)
“Kids of Sapa”. Four little beautiful Hmong girls from Lao Chai Village, near Sapa, Vietnam. (Photo and caption by Felipe Hanower/National Geographic Traveler Photo Contest)
A woman looks out of a dusty window after boarding a bus to be transported to see the casket of Nelson Mandela at the Union Buildings in Pretoria, South Africa, Wednesday December 11, 2013. On Thursday, December 5, 2013, Mandela died at the age of 95. (Photo by Markus Schreiber/AP Photo)
Jade Marvin from Starlight Express gets her skates on for a special number at The Olivier Awards 2025 at The Royal Albert Hall on April 06, 2025 in London, England. (Photo by David Levene/The Guardian)
Photo taken at the top of the Canton Tower, a landmark in Guangzhou, on August 7, 2022 shows the Pearl River running through downtown of Guangzhou, capital of south China's Guangdong Province. (Photo by Liu Dawei/Xinhua News Agency)
A herdsman stands on the back of a grey bull during a ceremony of driving sheep from their winter habitat to their summer pasture in the puszta or Hungarian steppe of Hortobagy, 183 kms east of Budapest, Hungary, 23 April 2016. Sheep are traditionally driven to their summer pasture at around St. George's Day in the Hortobagy region, because livestock breeding people traditionally consider St. George's Day the beginning of spring. (Photo by Zsolt Czegledi/EPA)